Miracle Messages Evaluation

Miracle Friends and Miracle Money Evaluation

The project will conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) of an innovative program for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) that initially designed to address social isolation and loneliness among people experiencing homelessness but subsequently paired with an economic poverty-reduction intervention. The social support intervention, known as "Miracle Friends," pairs an unhoused person with a volunteer "phone buddy." The poverty reduction intervention, known as "Miracle Money," provides guaranteed basic income of $750 per month for 1 year to Miracle Friends participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Homelessness
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Social Support; Other: Basic income

Detailed Description

The project will conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) of an innovative program for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) that initially designed to address social isolation and loneliness among people experiencing homelessness but subsequently paired with an economic poverty-reduction intervention. The social support intervention, known as "Miracle Friends (MF)," pairs an unhoused person with a volunteer "phone buddy." The poverty reduction intervention, known as "Miracle Money (M$)," provides guaranteed basic income of $750 per month for 1 year to MF participants. The RCT will have 3 arms of PEH who expressed interest in the phone buddy program: (1) those assigned to Miracle Friends; (2) those assigned to Miracle Money, which is not disclosed until after they actively engage in the Miracle Friends program; (3) And those assigned to a waitlist for Miracle Friends. To recruit for the study, the Miracle Friends program engage PEH through a variety of homeless services partners and introduce the MF program. Anyone who is interested in the MF program is provided information about a 15-month longitudinal study and referred to the research team to complete an eligibility screener. The research team explains the interview protocols that include receiving a $30 incentive each time a survey is completed that includes a baseline and 5 quarterly surveys. Participants will also be notified about being randomly selected to either be offered MF or put on a waitlist. Those assigned to the M$ are not notified about receiving monthly income until after they engage in the MF program. Information about frequency of contact with the MF social support volunteer and volunteer demographics will be provided directly from the Miracle Friends administrative data records.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 759
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90039
      • Miracle Messages

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• being 18 years old or older;
• speaks English;
• currently experiencing homelessness;
• has expressed interest in signing up for the Miracle Friends ("phone buddy") program.

Exclusion Criteria:

• not meeting the inclusion criteria;
• not able to provide informed consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Miracle Friends; Participants selected to receive a social support "phone buddy" program.	Other: Social Support; Social support "phone buddy" program.; Other Names: Miracle Friends
No Intervention: waitlist; Waitlisted for the social support "phone buddy" program.
Experimental: Miracle Money; Participants who receive $750 monthly income for 12 months based on having engaged in the Miracle Friends program	Other: Social Support; Social support "phone buddy" program.; Other Names: Miracle Friends; Other: Basic income; $750 per month for 12 months; Other Names: Miracle Money

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Homelessness/Housing status using questions from the Los Angeles Homeless Count	In the past 30 days, please indicate all places where you have slept for at least one night: 1. My own apartment or home 2. Someone else's apartment or home 3. In a shelter, emergency, temporary housing, 4. Hotel/motel provided by an agency 5. Outside on the street, park, or beach 6. Tent or makeshift shelter 7. In a bus station, train station, airport 8. Abandoned building 9. In a vehicle (car, van, recreation vehicle (RV), truck) 10. An institution, hospital, or facility	Measured quarterly for 15 months.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Employment status using questions from the Los Angeles Homeless Count	What is your employment status?; Employed, full-time (35 hours a week or more); Employed, part-time; Unemployed, looking for work; Unemployed, not looking for work; Retired, receiving retirement benefits; Retired, not receiving benefits	Measured quarterly for 15 months.
Health status using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement InformationSystem (PROMIS) Scale 1.2	In general, how would you rate your physical/mental health?; Excellent; Very good; Good; Fair; Poor	Measured quarterly for 15 months.
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Short Version	3 item questionnaire: How often do you feel that you lack companionship? How often do you feel left out? How often do you feel isolated from others?; Hardly ever; Some of the time; Often	Measured quarterly for 15 months.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California
• Collaborators: Miracle Messages
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Ben Henwood, PhD, University of Southern California

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 6, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 15, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 1, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): June 7, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 15, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 12, 2023
• Last Verified: November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: UP-22-00242

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No